142-581: Zorro ( Spanish: [ˈsoro] or [ˈθoro] , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley , appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California . He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and Indigenous peoples of California against corrupt, tyrannical officials and other villains. His signature all-black costume includes
284-579: A bad film of the studio's choosing to also be able to show a Pickford film. In 1916, Pickford's films were distributed, singly, through a special distribution unit called Artcraft. The Mary Pickford Corporation was briefly Pickford's motion-picture production company. In 1919, she increased her power by co-founding United Artists (UA) with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and her soon-to-be husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Before UA's creation, Hollywood studios were vertically integrated, not only producing films but forming chains of theaters. Distributors (also part of
426-424: A band of men helping Zorro is often absent from other character versions. An exception is Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), starring Reed Hadley as Diego. In Douglas Fairbanks' version, he also has a band of masked men helping him. In McCulley's stories, Zorro was aided by a deaf-mute named Bernardo. In Disney's Zorro television series, Bernardo is not deaf but pretends to be and serves as Zorro's secret agent. He
568-450: A black flat-brimmed hat known as sombrero cordobés , and a black sackcloth mask that covers the top half of his head. Sometimes the mask is a two-piece, the main item being a blindfold-type fabric with slits for the eyes, and the other item is a bandana over the head so that it is covered even if the hat is removed: this is the mask worn in the movie The Mark of Zorro (1920) and in the television series Zorro (1957–1959). Other times,
710-446: A cape, a hat known as a sombrero cordobés , and a mask covering the upper half of his face. In the stories, Zorro has a high bounty on his head but is too skilled and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch, and he also delights in publicly humiliating them. Because of this, the townspeople started calling him "El Zorro" because of his foxlike cunning and charm. Zorro is an acrobat and an expert in various weapons. Still,
852-529: A co-founder, as well as the producer and star of her own films, Pickford became the most powerful woman who has ever worked in Hollywood. By 1930, her acting career had largely faded. After retiring three years later, however, she continued to produce films for United Artists. She and Chaplin remained partners in the company for decades. Chaplin left the company in 1955, and Pickford followed suit in 1956, selling her remaining shares for $ 3 million. She had purchased
994-517: A commercial featuring a Zorro-like costume. The case was settled ("each party shall bear its own costs incurred in connection with this action, including its attorney's fees and costs") on August 13, 2010. In March 2013, Robert W. Cabell, author of Z – the Musical of Zorro (1998), filed another lawsuit against Zorro Productions, Inc. The lawsuit asserted that the Zorro character is in the public domain and that
1136-414: A continuation of his Hugo Award-winning ERB-dom which began in 1960. It ran for 75 issues and featured articles about the content and selected fiction from the pulps. It became Pulpdom Online in 2013 and continues quarterly publication. After 2000, several small independent publishers released magazines which published short fiction, either short stories or novel-length presentations, in the tradition of
1278-445: A coward and a fop . Zorro debuted in the 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano , originally meant as a stand-alone story. However, the success of the 1920 film adaptation The Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery , which introduced the popular Zorro costume, convinced McCulley to write more Zorro stories for about four decades; the character was featured in a total of five serialized stories and 57 short stories,
1420-446: A day." Though proud as befitting his class (and seemingly uncaring about the lower classes), he shuns action, rarely wearing his sword except for fashion, and is indifferent to romance with women. This is, of course, a sham. At the end of the novel, Diego explains that he has planned his double identity since he was fifteen: "It began ten years ago, when I was but a lad of fifteen," he said. "I heard tales of persecution. I saw my friends,
1562-424: A few quick dollars could bolster their income with sales to pulps. Additionally, some of the earlier pulps solicited stories from amateurs who were quite happy to see their words in print and could thus be paid token amounts. There were also career pulp writers, capable of turning out huge amounts of prose on a steady basis, often with the aid of dictation to stenographers , machines or typists . Before he became
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#17328511648711704-746: A few) with films made in California. Actors were not listed in the credits in Griffith's company. Audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. Exhibitors, in turn, capitalized on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring "The Girl with the Golden Curls", "Blondilocks", or "The Biograph Girl " was inside. Pickford left Biograph in December 1910. The following year, she starred in films at Carl Laemmle 's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). IMP
1846-417: A former Native warrior who is converted, christianized and married to Don Alejandro. Their dual pregnancies result in them giving birth the same night. Due to complications from birth, Regina cannot breastfeed her child, Diego, so Ana breastfeeds both boys, making them milk brothers. The two are shown to be inseparable, which helps Bernardo receive a more formal education and accompanies Diego to Barcelona. After
1988-489: A girl and a boy, while Lottie was cast in a silent part in the company's production of The Silver King at Toronto's Princess Theatre (destroyed by fire in 1915, rebuilt, demolished in 1931), while their mother played the organ. Pickford subsequently acted in many melodramas with Toronto's Valentine Stock Company, finally playing the major child role in its version of The Silver King . She capped her short career in Toronto with
2130-460: A group of pirates invades the de la Vega home, Bernardo witnesses the rape and murder of his mother, and a result, stops speaking. Diego's grandmother, White Owl, concludes Bernardo refuses to speak as a form of mourning. He is shown to speak to Tornado in a spirit quest and later to a fellow native girl, Light-in-the-Night, whom he marries. In The Curse of Capistrano , Diego is described as "a fair youth of excellent blood and twenty-four years, noted
2272-483: A magazine called Pulp Adventures reprinting old classics. It came out regularly until 2001, and then started up again in 2014. In 1994, Quentin Tarantino directed the film Pulp Fiction . The working title of the film was Black Mask , in homage to the pulp magazine of that name , and it embodied the seedy, violent, often crime-related spirit found in pulp magazines. In 1997 C. Cazadessus Jr. launched Pulpdom ,
2414-681: A major silent film star, in comedy and tragedy, respectively. Pickford made her last Biograph picture, The New York Hat , in late 1912. She returned to Broadway in the David Belasco production of A Good Little Devil (1912). This was a major turning point in her career. Pickford, who had always hoped to conquer the Broadway stage, discovered how deeply she missed film acting. In 1913, she decided to work exclusively in film. The previous year, Adolph Zukor had formed Famous Players in Famous Plays . It
2556-518: A master of escape and camouflage. He is also good at deciphering numerous spoken and written languages, facilitating communication with locals regardless of ethnicity or language. Zorro is incredibly acrobatic, using his bullwhip as a gymnastic accouterment to swing through gaps between city roofs, and can land from great heights and take a fall. Although he is a master swordsman and marksman, he has repeatedly demonstrated his prowess in unarmed combat against multiple opponents. In some versions, Zorro keeps
2698-419: A medium-sized dagger tucked in his left boot for emergencies. He has used his cape in creative ways as a blind, a trip-mat, and a disarming tool. Zorro's boots are also sometimes weighted, as is his hat, which he has thrown, Frisbee-style, as an efficiently substantial warning to enemies. He is also a skilled tactician, using mockery to goad his opponents into traps or to irritate them into fighting poorly. Zorro
2840-442: A normal childhood, she enjoyed making these pictures. Given how small she was at under five feet, and her naturalistic acting abilities, she was very successful in these roles. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , when he first met her in person as a boy, assumed she was a new playmate for him, and asked her to come and play trains with him, which she obligingly did. In August 1918, Pickford's contract expired and, when refusing Zukor's terms for
2982-511: A novel in 1935, The Demi-Widow . In the mid-1960s, Pickford often received visitors only by telephone, speaking to them from her bedroom. Charles "Buddy" Rogers often gave guests tours of Pickfair , including views of a genuine western bar Pickford had bought for Douglas Fairbanks, and a portrait of Pickford in the drawing room. A print of this image now hangs in the Library of Congress . When Pickford received an Academy Honorary Award in 1976,
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#17328511648713124-435: A novelist, Upton Sinclair was turning out at least 8,000 words per day seven days a week for the pulps, keeping two stenographers fully employed. Pulps would often have their authors use multiple pen names so that they could use multiple stories by the same person in one issue, or use a given author's stories in three or more successive issues, while still appearing to have varied content. One advantage pulps provided to authors
3266-454: A package that provided affordable entertainment to young working-class people. In six years, Argosy went from a few thousand copies per month to over half a million. Street & Smith , a dime novel and boys' weekly publisher, was next on the market. Seeing Argosy ' s success, they launched The Popular Magazine in 1903, which they billed as the "biggest magazine in the world" by virtue of its being two pages (the interior sides of
3408-563: A prostitute. As Pickford said of her success at Biograph: I played scrubwomen and secretaries and women of all nationalities ... I decided that if I could get into as many pictures as possible, I'd become known, and there would be a demand for my work. She appeared in 51 films in 1909—almost one a week—with her first starring role being in The Violin Maker of Cremona opposite future husband Owen Moore . While at Biograph, she suggested to Florence La Badie to "try pictures", invited her to
3550-571: A renewal, she was offered $ 250,000 to leave the motion picture business. She declined, and went to First National Pictures , which agreed to her terms. In 1919, Pickford, along with D. W. Griffith , Charlie Chaplin , and Douglas Fairbanks , formed the independent film production company United Artists . Through United Artists, Pickford continued to produce and perform in her own movies; she could also distribute them as she chose. In 1920, Pickford's film Pollyanna grossed around $ 1.1 million. The following year, Pickford's film Little Lord Fauntleroy
3692-498: A rescuing hero . Cover art played a major part in the marketing of pulp magazines. The early pulp magazines could boast covers by some distinguished American artists; The Popular Magazine had covers by N. C. Wyeth , and Edgar Franklin Wittmack contributed cover art to Argosy and Short Stories . Later, many artists specialized in creating covers mainly for the pulps; a number of the most successful cover artists became as popular as
3834-544: A season of radio plays for NBC in 1935 and CBS in 1936. In 1936, she became vice-president of United Artists and continued to produce films for others, including One Rainy Afternoon (1936), The Gay Desperado (1936), Sleep, My Love (1948; with Claudette Colbert ), and Love Happy (1949), with the Marx Brothers . Pickford used her stature in the movie industry to promote a variety of causes. Although her image depicted fragility and innocence, she proved to be
3976-662: A similar format to American pulp magazines, in that it was printed on rough pulp paper and heavily illustrated. During the Second World War , paper shortages had a serious impact on pulp production, starting a steady rise in costs and the decline of the pulps. Following the model of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1941, some magazines began to switch to digest size : smaller, sometimes thicker magazines. In 1949, Street & Smith closed most of their pulp magazines in order to move upmarket and produce slicks . Competition from comic-books and paperback novels further eroded
4118-489: A strong businesswoman who took control of her career in a cutthroat industry. During World War I , she promoted the sale of liberty bonds , making an intensive series of fund-raising speeches, beginning in Washington, D.C., where she sold bonds alongside Charlie Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks , Theda Bara , and Marie Dressler . Five days later she spoke on Wall Street to an estimated 50,000 people. Though Canadian-born, she
4260-468: A well-equipped laboratory in his hidden cave. In Isabel Allende's novel, Diego is a mestizo, the son of a Spanish aristocrat and a Shoshone warrior woman. Thus, as a child, Diego is caught between the divine right of nobility and the ways of his Native mother, grandmother, and ancestors. The historical figure most often associated with the Zorro character is Joaquin Murrieta , whose life was fictionalized in
4402-422: Is a capable and invaluable helper for Zorro, sometimes wearing the mask to reinforce his master's charade. The Family Channel 's Zorro television series replaces Bernardo with a teenager named Felipe, played by Juan Diego Botto , with a similar disability and pretense. In Isabel Allende's Zorro: A Novel , Bernardo is the child of the de la Vega's Native housemaid, Ana, who forms a bond with Regina de la Vega,
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4544-521: Is a collection of "pulp fiction" stories written by such current well-known authors as Stephen King , Nick Hornby , Aimee Bender and Dave Eggers . Explaining his vision for the project, Chabon wrote in the introduction, "I think that we have forgotten how much fun reading a short story can be, and I hope that if nothing else, this treasury goes some small distance toward reminding us of that lost but fundamental truth." The Scottish publisher DC Thomson publishes "My Weekly Compact Novel" every week. It
4686-544: Is a precursor of the superheroes of American comic books, with Batman and the Lone Ranger drawing particularly close parallels to the character. Zorro debuted in Johnston McCulley 's novel The Curse of Capistrano , serialized in five parts between August 9 and September 6, 1919, in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly . The story was initially meant as a standalone tale; at the denouement , Zorro's true identity
4828-412: Is a skilled horseman. The name of his jet-black horse has varied through the years. In The Curse of Capistrano , it was unnamed. In Disney's Zorro television series, the horse gets the name Tornado , which has been kept in many later adaptations. In most versions, Zorro keeps Tornado in a secret cave, connected to his hacienda with a system of secret passages and tunnels. McCulley's concept of
4970-620: Is dead. In most versions, Diego learned his swordsmanship while at university in Spain and created his masked alter ego after he was unexpectedly summoned home by his father because California had fallen into the hands of an oppressive dictator. Diego is usually shown living with his father in a vast hacienda , which contains many secret passages and tunnels leading to a secret cave that serves as headquarters for Zorro's operations and as Tornado's hiding place. To divert suspicion about his identity, Diego hides his fighting abilities while pretending to be
5112-407: Is followed in most Zorro media. A notable exception to this portrayal is Disney's Zorro (1957–1959), where Diego, despite using the original façade early in the series, instead becomes a passionate and compassionate crusader for justice and masquerades as "the most inept swordsman in all of California". In this show, everyone knows Diego would love to do what Zorro does but thinks he does not have
5254-563: Is literally a pulp novel, though it does not fall into the hard-edged genre most associated with pulp fiction. From 2006 through 2019, Anthony Tollin's imprint Sanctum Books has reprinted all 182 Doc Savage pulp novels, all 24 of Paul Ernst's Avenger novels, the 14 Whisperer novels from the original pulp series and all but three novels of the entire run of The Shadow (most of his publications featuring two novels in one book). Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford ,
5396-464: Is revealed to all. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford , on their honeymoon , selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists , beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The novel was adapted as the film The Mark of Zorro (1920), which Fairbanks produced, co-wrote, and starred in as Diego/Zorro. The movie was a commercial success, and the 1924 reprint of McCulley's story by publisher Grosset & Dunlap used
5538-462: The frailes , annoyed and robbed. I saw soldiers beat an old native who was my friend. And then I determined to play this game." "It would be a difficult game to play, I knew. So I pretended to have small interest in life, so that men never would connect my name with that of the highwayman I expected to become. In secret, I practiced horsemanship and learned how to handle a blade—" "By the saints, he did," Sergeant Gonzales growled. "One half of me
5680-596: The Queen of Swords television series infringed upon the copyrights and trademarks of Zorro and associated characters. Queen of Swords is a 2000–2001 television series set in Spanish California during the early 19th century and featuring a hero who wore a black costume with a red sash and demonstrated similarities to the character of Zorro, including the sword-fighting skills, use of a whip and bolas , and horse-riding skills. Zorro Productions, Inc. argued that it owned
5822-466: The Academy sent a TV crew to her house to record her short statement of thanks—offering the public a very rare glimpse into Pickfair Manor. Charitable events continued to be held at Pickfair, including an annual Christmas party for blind war veterans, mostly from World War I. Pickford acquired American citizenship when she married Fairbanks, an American citizen, in 1920. MGM agent William A. Orr reported to
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5964-702: The Community Trade Mark for "Zorro" being declared invalid by the European Union's Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for goods of classes 16 and 41. This follows the 'Winnetou' ruling of the Office's First Board of Appeal in which the Board of Appeal ruled that the name of famous characters cannot be protected as a trademark in these classes. Zorro Productions appealed the decision, and on December 19, 2017,
6106-703: The Hollywood Studio Club , a dormitory for young women involved in the motion picture business. At the end of World War I, Pickford conceived of the Motion Picture Relief Fund , an organization to help financially needy actors. Leftover funds from her work selling Liberty Bonds were put toward its creation, and in 1921, the Motion Picture Relief Fund (MPRF) was officially incorporated, with Joseph Schenck voted its first president and Pickford its vice president. In 1932, Pickford spearheaded
6248-515: The Nobel Prize in Literature , worked as an editor for Adventure , writing filler paragraphs (brief facts or amusing anecdotes designed to fill small gaps in page layout), advertising copy and a few stories. The term pulp fiction is often used for massmarket paperbacks since the 1950s. The Browne Popular Culture Library News noted: Many of the paperback houses that contributed to the decline of
6390-607: The Spring-heeled Jack character as a masked avenger may have inspired some aspects of Zorro's heroic persona. Spring Heeled Jack was portrayed as a nobleman who created a flamboyant, masked alter ego to fight injustice, frequently demonstrated exceptional athletic and combative skills, maintained a hidden lair and was known to carve the letter "S" into walls with his rapier as a calling card. Like Sir Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel , Don Diego avoids suspicion by playing
6532-670: The "Payroll Pledge Program", a payroll-deduction plan for studio workers who gave one half of one percent of their earnings to the MPRF. As a result, in 1940, the Fund was able to purchase land and build the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital , in Woodland Hills, California . An astute businesswoman, Pickford became her own producer within three years of her start in features. According to her Foundation, "she oversaw every aspect of
6674-629: The "marriage of the century" and they were referred to as the King and Queen of Hollywood. They went to Europe for their honeymoon; fans in London and in Paris caused riots trying to get to the famous couple. The couple's triumphant return to Hollywood was witnessed by vast crowds who turned out to hail them at railway stations across the United States. The Mark of Zorro (1920) and a series of other swashbucklers gave
6816-455: The 1920 film The Mark of Zorro , the 1922 novel The Further Adventures of Zorro , the 1925 film Don Q, Son of Zorro , and the 1926 film In the Way of Zorro . Still, many later Zorro stories are still protected by copyright, and many of those copyrights are owned or controlled by Zorro Productions, Inc., which asserts it "controls the worldwide trademarks and copyrights in the name, visual likeness and
6958-692: The 1920s–1940s, the most successful pulps sold up to one million copies per issue. In 1934, Frank Gruber said there were some 150 pulp titles. The most successful pulp magazines were Argosy , Adventure , Blue Book and Short Stories , collectively described by some pulp historians as "The Big Four". Among the best-known other titles of this period were Amazing Stories , Black Mask , Dime Detective , Flying Aces , Horror Stories , Love Story Magazine , Marvel Tales , Oriental Stories , Planet Stories , Spicy Detective , Startling Stories , Thrilling Wonder Stories , Unknown , Weird Tales and Western Story Magazine . During
7100-535: The 1950s. Pulp magazines often contained a wide variety of genre fiction , including, but not limited to: The American Old West was a mainstay genre of early turn of the 20th-century novels as well as later pulp magazines, and lasted longest of all the traditional pulps. In many ways, the later men's adventure ("the sweats") was the replacement of pulps. Many classic science fiction and crime novels were originally serialized in pulp magazines such as Weird Tales , Amazing Stories , and Black Mask . While
7242-528: The 1998 film The Mask of Zorro . In an August 1999 order, the court ruled that it would not invalidate Zorro Productions' trademarks because the defendant argued that certain copyrights in Zorro were in the public domain or owned by third parties. A dispute took place in the 2001 case of Sony Pictures Entertainment v. Fireworks Ent. Group. On January 24, 2001, Sony Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Zorro Productions, Inc., sued Fireworks Entertainment , Paramount Pictures , and Mercury Entertainment , claiming that
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#17328511648717384-664: The 21st century. Bold Venture Press collected all of McCulley's Zorro stories Zorro: The Complete Pulp Adventures , in six volumes. Over 40 Zorro-titled films were made over the years, including The Mark of Zorro , the 1940 classic starring Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone . The character was also featured in ten TV series, the most famous being the Disney-produced Zorro series of 1957–59, starring Guy Williams . Zorro appears in several stories written by other authors, comics books and strips, stage productions, video games, and other media. McCulley died in 1958, just as Zorro
7526-521: The Amazon Queen by E.A. Guest, their first contribution to a "New Pulp Era", featuring the hallmarks of pulp fiction for contemporary mature readers: violence, horror and sex. E.A. Guest was likened to a blend of pulp era icon Talbot Mundy and Stephen King by real-life explorer David Hatcher Childress. In 2002, the tenth issue of McSweeney's Quarterly was guest edited by Michael Chabon . Published as McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales , it
7668-471: The Canadian Department of Citizenship to officially acquire Canadian citizenship because she wished to "die as a Canadian". Canadian authorities were not sure that she had ever lost her Canadian citizenship, given her passport status, but her request was approved and she officially became a Canadian citizen. On May 29, 1979, Pickford died at a Santa Monica, California , hospital of complications from
7810-574: The EUIPO Fourth Board of Appeal nullified the lower court's ruling, declaring the contested trademarks as valid, and required Cabell to pay the costs of the legal action, the appeal and Zorro Productions' legal fees and costs. Zorro Productions, Inc. owns approximately 1,300 other Zorro-related trademarks worldwide. In May 2018, Judge Edward Davila processed a complaint by Cabell to find Zorro Productions infringed copyright on his musical. Pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "
7952-632: The Fox , Salomon Pico , Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza , and Tiburcio Vasquez . Another possible historical inspiration is William Lamport , an Irish soldier who lived in Mexico in the seventeenth century. His life was the subject of a fictive book by Vicente Riva Palacio ; The Irish Zorro (2004) is a recent biography. Another is Estanislao , a Yokuts man who led a revolt against the Mission San Jose in 1827. The 1860s, 1880s, and 1900s penny dreadful treatment of
8094-454: The U.S. together in 1918 to promote liberty bond sales for the World War I effort. Around this time, Pickford also suffered from the flu during the 1918 flu pandemic . Pickford divorced Moore on March 2, 1920, after she agreed to his $ 100,000 demand for a settlement ($ 1.5 million in 2023, adjusted for inflation). She married Fairbanks just days later on March 28, 1920, in what was described as
8236-586: The US Congress in 1932 that Pickford was an American citizen. Pickford also believed that she had ceased to be a British subject upon marrying Fairbanks. However, she held and traveled under British and later Canadian passports which she renewed regularly at the British and Canadian consulates in Los Angeles. She also owned a house in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Towards the end of her life, Pickford made arrangements with
8378-653: The annual pulp magazine convention that had begun in 1972. The magazine, devoted to the history and legacy of the pulp magazines, has published each year since. It now appears in connection with PulpFest , the summer pulp convention that grew out of and replaced Pulpcon. The Pulpster was originally edited by Tony Davis and is currently edited by William Lampkin, who also runs the website ThePulp.Net. Contributors have included Don Hutchison, Robert Sampson, Will Murray , Al Tonik, Nick Carr, Mike Resnick , Hugh B. Cave , Joseph Wrzos, Jessica Amanda Salmonson , Chet Williamson , and many others. In 1992, Rich W. Harvey came out with
8520-428: The art was black lines on the paper's background, but Finlay and a few others did some work that was primarily white lines against large dark areas. Another way pulps kept costs down was by paying authors less than other markets; thus many eminent authors started out in the pulps before they were successful enough to sell to better-paying markets, and similarly, well-known authors whose careers were slumping or who wanted
8662-513: The authors featured on the interior pages. Among the most famous pulp artists were Walter M. Baumhofer , Earle K. Bergey , Margaret Brundage , Edd Cartier , Virgil Finlay , Frank R. Paul , Norman Saunders , Emmett Watson , Nick Eggenhofer , (who specialized in Western illustrations), Hugh J. Ward , George Rozen , and Rudolph Belarski . Covers were important enough to sales that sometimes they would be designed first; authors would then be shown
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#17328511648718804-568: The boy Freckles in Hal Reid 's The Gypsy Girl on tour, and at the Star Theatre on Broadway. In 1906, Gladys, Lottie and Jack Smith supported singer Chauncey Olcott on Broadway in Edmund Burke . Gladys finally landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, The Warrens of Virginia . The play was written by William C. deMille , whose brother, Cecil , appeared in the cast. David Belasco ,
8946-492: The challenge of talking movies. A transition in the roles Pickford selected came when she was in her late thirties, no longer able to play the children, teenage spitfires, and feisty young women so adored by her fans, and not suited for the glamorous and vampish heroines of early sound. In 1933, she underwent a Technicolor screen test for an animated/live-action film version of Alice in Wonderland , but Walt Disney discarded
9088-490: The character of Zorro." It further states "[t]he unauthorized, unlicensed use of the name, character and/or likeness of 'Zorro' is an infringement and a violation of state and federal laws." In 1999, TriStar Pictures , a division of Sony Pictures , sued Del Taco, Inc., due to a fast-food restaurant advertising campaign that allegedly infringed Zorro Productions' claims to a trademark on the character of Zorro. Sony and TriStar had paid licensing fees to Zorro Productions, Inc. for
9230-404: The company Zorro Productions, Inc. uses an image of Zorro rearing on his horse, sword raised high. Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, and Guy Williams used an epee dueling blade with a saber hilt. Antonio Banderas used a transitional rapier. Zorro specializes in infiltrating heavily guarded enemy structures or territories, espionage, and improvised explosive devices. He is also a weapons expert and
9372-437: The copyright to the original character because Johnston McCulley assigned his Zorro rights to Mitchell Gertz in 1949. Gertz died in 1961, and his estate was transferred to his children, who created Zorro Productions, Inc. Fireworks Entertainment argued that the original rights had already been transferred to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in 1920 and provided documents showing this was legally affirmed in 1929, and also questioned whether
9514-792: The copyright was still valid. The court ruled that "since the copyrights in The Curse of Capistrano and The Mark of Zorro lapsed in 1995 or before, the character Zorro has been in the public domain". Judge Collins also stated, "Plaintiffs' argument that they have a trademark in Zorro because they licensed others to use Zorro, however, is specious. It assumes that ZPI had the right to demand licenses to use Zorro at all." Judge Collins subsequently vacated her ruling following an unopposed motion filed by Sony Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Zorro Productions, Inc. In another legal action in 2010, Zorro Productions, Inc., sued Mars, Incorporated , makers of M&M's chocolate candies, and ad agency BBDO Worldwide over
9656-622: The costume may vary. His favored weapon is a rapier , which he also uses to often leave his distinctive mark, a Z cut with three quick strokes, on his defeated foes and other objects to "sign his work". He also uses other weapons, including a bullwhip and a pistol . The fox is never depicted as Zorro's emblem. It is used as a metaphor for the character's wiliness, such as in the lyrics "Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free ..." from Disney's television series theme. His heroic pose consists of rearing on his horse, Tornado , often saluting with his hand or raising his sword high. The logo of
9798-583: The couple's mansion in Beverly Hills. Dinners at Pickfair became celebrity events. Charlie Chaplin , Fairbanks' best friend, was often present. Other guests included George Bernard Shaw , Albert Einstein , Elinor Glyn , Helen Keller , H. G. Wells , Lord Mountbatten , Fritz Kreisler , Amelia Earhart , F. Scott Fitzgerald , Noël Coward , Max Reinhardt , Baron Nishi , Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Austen Chamberlain , Sir Harry Lauder , and Meher Baba , among others. However,
9940-487: The cover art and asked to write a story to match. Later pulps began to feature interior illustrations, depicting elements of the stories. The drawings were printed in black ink on the same cream-colored paper used for the text, and had to use specific techniques to avoid blotting on the coarse texture of the cheap pulp. Thus, fine lines and heavy detail were usually not an option. Shading was by crosshatching or pointillism , and even that had to be limited and coarse. Usually
10082-426: The cover price rose to 15 cents and 30 pages were added to each issue; along with establishing a stable of authors for each magazine, this change proved successful and circulation began to approach that of Argosy . Street and Smith's next innovation was the introduction of specialized genre pulps, with each magazine focusing on a particular genre, such as detective stories, romance, etc. At their peak of popularity in
10224-448: The direct precursors of pulp fiction. The first "pulp" was Frank Munsey 's revamped Argosy magazine of 1896, with about 135,000 words (192 pages) per issue, on pulp paper with untrimmed edges, and no illustrations, even on the cover. The steam-powered printing press had been in widespread use for some time, enabling the boom in dime novels; prior to Munsey, however, no one had combined cheap printing, cheap paper and cheap authors in
10366-435: The early 1910s and had a miscarriage or an abortion . Some accounts suggest this resulted in her later inability to have children. The couple's marriage was strained by Moore's alcoholism, insecurity about living in the shadow of Pickford's fame, and bouts of domestic violence . The couple lived together on-and-off for several years. Pickford became secretly involved in a relationship with Douglas Fairbanks . They toured
10508-711: The early 1930s, he and Pickford separated. They divorced January 10, 1936. Fairbanks' son by his first wife, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , claimed his father and Pickford long regretted their inability to reconcile. On June 24, 1937, Pickford married her third and last husband, actor and band leader Charles "Buddy" Rogers. They adopted two children: Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted 1943, a.k.a. Ronnie Pickford Rogers), and Roxanne (born 1944, adopted 1944). A PBS American Experience documentary described Pickford's relationship with her children as tense. She criticized their physical imperfections, including Ronnie's small stature and Roxanne's crooked teeth. Both children later said their mother
10650-735: The economic hardships of the Great Depression , pulps provided affordable content to the masses, and were one of the primary forms of entertainment, along with film and radio . Although pulp magazines were primarily an American phenomenon, there were also a number of British pulp magazines published between the Edwardian era and World War II . Notable UK pulps included The Pall Mall Magazine , The Novel Magazine , Cassell's Magazine , The Story-Teller , The Sovereign Magazine , Hutchinson's Adventure-Story and Hutchinson's Mystery-Story . The German fantasy magazine Der Orchideengarten had
10792-487: The eldest son of each new generation returns to Spain for a period of travel and study." The 1940 film The Mark of Zorro keeps the idea of Diego learning his swordsmanship in Spain and adds the idea of him being unexpectedly summoned home by his father, Don Alejandro, when California fell into the hand of an oppressing dictator. Both ideas would then be included in most retellings of the character's backstory. With minor variations, McCulley's portrayal of Diego's personality
10934-466: The end of the "pulp era"; by that date, many of the famous pulps of the previous generation, including Black Mask, The Shadow , Doc Savage , and Weird Tales , were defunct (though some of those titles have been revived in various formats in the decades since). Almost all of the few remaining former pulp magazines are science fiction or mystery magazines, now in formats similar to " digest size ", such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact , though
11076-468: The era of Spanish California (1769–1821) and, although exact years are often vague, the presence of the Pueblo of Los Angeles means the stories cannot happen before 1781, the year it was founded. Some media adaptations of Zorro's story have placed him during the later era of Mexican California (1821–1848). The character's visual motif is typically a black costume with a black flowing Spanish cloak or cloak,
11218-639: The films in which she starred, and a record-breaking salary of $ 10,000 a week. In addition, Pickford's compensation was half of a film's profits, with a guarantee of $ 1.04 million (US$ 22,040,000 in 2024), making her the first actress to sign a million-dollar contract. She also became vice-president of Pickford Film Corporation. Occasionally, she played a child, in films such as The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Daddy-Long-Legs (1919), and Pollyanna (1920). Pickford's fans were devoted to these "little girl" roles, but they were not typical of her career. Due to her lack of
11360-623: The following year, resembled that of the Rider with only slight differences in the mask and hat. In 1860 , Mór Jókai published his novel " Szegény Gazdagok " (Poor Richmen), where the main character is the Hungarian Baron Lénárd Hátszegi, who is supposed to have the alterego of the "Fatia Negra" (The one with the Black face), an outlaw who robs local people during the night, and during the day lives an aristocratic life. The novel's character
11502-570: The front and back cover) longer than Argosy . Due to differences in page layout however, the magazine had substantially less text than Argosy . The Popular Magazine did introduce color covers to pulp publishing, and the magazine began to take off when in 1905 the publishers acquired the rights to serialize Ayesha (1905), by H. Rider Haggard , a sequel to his popular novel She (1887). Haggard's Lost World genre influenced several key pulp writers, including Edgar Rice Burroughs , Robert E. Howard , Talbot Mundy and Abraham Merritt . In 1907,
11644-951: The genre–Ace, Dell, Avon, among others–were actually started by pulp magazine publishers. They had the presses, the expertise, and the newsstand distribution networks which made the success of the mass-market paperback possible. These pulp-oriented paperback houses mined the old magazines for reprints. This kept pulp literature, if not pulp magazines, alive. The Return of the Continental Op reprints material first published in Black Mask ; Five Sinister Characters contains stories first published in Dime Detective ; and The Pocket Book of Science Fiction collects material from Thrilling Wonder Stories , Astounding Science Fiction and Amazing Stories . But note that mass market paperbacks are not pulps. In 1991, The Pulpster debuted at that year's Pulpcon ,
11786-414: The last one appearing in print posthumously in 1959, the year after his death. The Curse of Capistrano eventually sold more than 50 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books of all time. While the rest of McCulley's Zorro stories did not enjoy the same popularity, as most of them were never reprinted until the 21st century, the character also appears in over 40 films and in ten TV series,
11928-419: The length of El Camino Real for his small interest in the really important things of life." It is also said that "Don Diego was unlike the other full-blooded youths of the times. It appeared that he disliked action. He seldom wore his blade, except as a matter of style and apparel. He was damnably polite to all women and paid court to none. ... Those who knew Don Diego best declared he yawned ten score times
12070-682: The majority of pulp magazines were anthology titles featuring many different authors, characters and settings, some of the most enduring magazines were those that featured a single recurring character. These were often referred to as "hero pulps" because the recurring character was almost always a larger-than-life hero in the mold of Doc Savage or The Shadow . Popular pulp characters that headlined in their own magazines: Popular pulp characters who appeared in anthology titles such as All-Story or Weird Tales : Pulp covers were printed in color on higher-quality (slick) paper. They were famous for their half-dressed damsels in distress , usually awaiting
12212-418: The making of her films, from hiring talent and crew to overseeing the script, the shooting, the editing, to the final release and promotion of each project". She demanded (and received) these powers in 1916, when she was under contract to Zukor's Famous Players in Famous Plays (later Paramount). Zukor acquiesced to her refusal to participate in block-booking, the widespread practice of forcing an exhibitor to show
12354-520: The mask is a one-piece that unites both items described above: this mask was introduced in The Mark of Zorro (1940) and appeared in many modern versions. Zorro's mask has also occasionally been shown as a rounded domino mask , which he wore without wearing a bandana. In his first appearance, Zorro's cloak is purple, his hat is generically referred to as a "wide sombrero," and his black cloth veil mask with slits for eyes covers his whole face. Other features of
12496-594: The most durable revival of Weird Tales began in pulp format, though published on good-quality paper. The old format is still in use for some lengthy serials, like the German science fiction weekly Perry Rhodan (over 3,000 issues as of 2019). Over the course of their evolution, there were a huge number of pulp magazine titles; Harry Steeger of Popular Publications claimed that his company alone had published over 300, and at their peak they were publishing 42 titles per month. Many titles of course survived only briefly. While
12638-476: The most famous being the Disney production, Zorro , of 1957–1959 starring Guy Williams . Other media featuring Zorro include stories by different authors, audio/radio dramas, comic books and strips, stage productions, and video games. Being one of the earliest examples of a fictional masked avenger with a double identity, Zorro inspired the creation of several similar characters in pulp magazines and other media and
12780-519: The most popular titles were monthly, many were bimonthly and some were quarterly. The collapse of the pulp industry changed the landscape of publishing because pulps were the single largest sales outlet for short stories. Combined with the decrease in slick magazine fiction markets, writers trying to support themselves by creating fiction switched to novels and book-length anthologies of shorter pieces. Some ex-pulp writers like Hugh B. Cave and Robert Leslie Bellem had moved on to writing for television by
12922-688: The novel The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta (1854) by John Rollin Ridge . In the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro Murrieta's (fictitious) brother Alejandro succeeds Diego as Zorro. As a hero with a secret identity who taunts his foes by signing his deeds, Zorro finds a direct literary predecessor in Sir Percival Blakeney, hero of the Scarlet Pimpernel pulp series by Emma Orczy . The character recalls other figures, such as Robin Hood , Reynard
13064-456: The one he employs most frequently is his rapier , which he often uses to carve the initial "Z" on his defeated foes and other objects to "sign his work". He is also an accomplished rider, his trusty steed being a black horse called Tornado . Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega ), a young man who is the only son of Don Alejandro de la Vega, the wealthiest landowner in California, while Diego's mother
13206-562: The play's Broadway actors reciting every line of dialogue, resulting in a stiff film that Pickford later called "one of the worst [features] I ever made ... it was deadly". Zukor agreed; he held the film back from distribution for a year. Pickford's work in material written for the camera by that time had attracted a strong following. Comedy-dramas, such as In the Bishop's Carriage (1913), Caprice (1913), and especially Hearts Adrift (1914), made her irresistible to moviegoers. Hearts Adrift
13348-490: The popular Fairbanks a more romantic, heroic image. Pickford continued to epitomize the virtuous but fiery girl next door. Even at private parties, people instinctively stood up when Pickford entered a room; she and her husband were often referred to as "Hollywood royalty". Their international reputations were broad. Foreign heads of state and dignitaries who visited the White House often asked if they could also visit Pickfair ,
13490-464: The producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford. After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, Pickford was again out of work. On April 19, 1909, the Biograph Company director D. W. Griffith screen-tested her at the company's New York studio for a role in the nickelodeon film Pippa Passes . The role went to someone else but Griffith
13632-530: The project when Paramount released its own version of the book. Only one Technicolor still of her screen test still exists. She retired from film acting in 1933 following three costly failures with her last film appearance being Secrets . She appeared on stage in Chicago in 1934 in the play The Church Mouse and went on tour in 1935, starting in Seattle with the stage version of Coquette . She also appeared in
13774-555: The public nature of Pickford's second marriage strained it to the breaking point. Both she and Fairbanks had little time off from producing and acting in their films. They were also constantly on display as America's unofficial ambassadors to the world, leading parades, cutting ribbons, and making speeches. When their film careers both began to flounder at the end of the silent era, Fairbanks' restless nature prompted him to overseas travel (something which Pickford did not enjoy). When Fairbanks' romance with Sylvia, Lady Ashley became public in
13916-433: The pulp magazines of the early 20th century. These included Blood 'N Thunder , High Adventure and a short-lived magazine which revived the title Argosy . These specialist publications, printed in limited press runs, were pointedly not printed on the brittle, high-acid wood pulp paper of the old publications and were not mass market publications targeted at a wide audience. In 2004, Lost Continent Library published Secret of
14058-489: The pulps ") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages; it was 7 inches (18 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) high, and 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. Pulps were
14200-530: The pulps' market share, but it has been suggested the widespread expansion of television also drew away the readership of the pulps. In a more affluent post-war America, the price gap compared to slick magazines was far less significant. In the 1950s, men's adventure magazines also began to draw some former pulp readers. The 1957 liquidation of the American News Company , then the primary distributor of pulp magazines, has sometimes been taken as marking
14342-531: The reader until the end of the book. In the story, Diego and Zorro romance Lolita Pulido, an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop , she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. The main villain is Captain Ramon, who also focuses on Lolita. Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales, Zorro's enemy but Diego's friend; Diego's deaf and mute servant Bernardo; his ally, Fray (Friar) Felipe; his father, Don Alejandro Vega,
14484-503: The rights to many of her early silent films with the intention of burning them on her death, but in 1970 she agreed to donate 50 of her Biograph films to the American Film Institute . In 1976, she received an Academy Honorary Award for her contribution to American film. Pickford was married three times. She married Owen Moore , an Irish-born silent film actor, on January 7, 1911. It is rumoured she became pregnant by Moore in
14626-539: The role of an effete dandy who wears lace, writes poetry, and shuns violence. The all-black Fairbanks film costume, which with variations has remained the standard costume for the character, was likely adapted from the Arrow serial film character The Masked Rider (1919). This character was the first Mexican black-clad masked rider on a black horse to appear on the silver screen. Fairbanks's costume in The Mark of Zorro , released
14768-504: The same title, capitalizing on the movie's popularity. The novel has since been reprinted using both titles. In response to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than sixty more Zorro stories, beginning in 1922 with The Further Adventures of Zorro , also serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly . Fairbanks picked up the movie rights for the sequel that year. However, Fairbanks's sequel, Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925),
14910-567: The second one. Then, between 1932 and 1941, McCulley wrote four short stories and two serialized novels. Zorro stories were published much more frequently between 1944 and 1951 when McCulley published 52 short stories with the character for the West Magazine . "Zorro Rides the Trail!", which appeared in Max Brand's Western Magazine in 1954, is the last story to be published during the author's lifetime and
15052-513: The second-to-last story overall. The last, "The Mask of Zorro" (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in Short Stories for Men in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's public revelation of his identity. The Curse of Capistrano eventually sold more than 50 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books of all time . For the most part, McCulley's other Zorro stories remained overlooked and out-of-print until
15194-413: The skill. The Family Channel's Zorro (1990–1993) takes this concept further. While Diego pretends to be inept with a sword, the rest of his facade exaggerates his real interests. Diego is well-versed and interested in art, poetry, literature, and science. His facade is pretending to be interested in only these things and not interested in swordplay or action. In this version of the story, Zorro also has
15336-512: The starring role of Little Eva in the Valentine production of Uncle Tom's Cabin , adapted from the 1852 novel. By the early 1900s, theatre had become a family enterprise. Gladys, her mother, and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail, performing in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a leading role on Broadway, planning to quit acting if she failed. In 1905, she played
15478-509: The studio and later introduced her to D. W. Griffith, who launched La Badie's career. In January 1910, Pickford traveled with a Biograph crew to Los Angeles. Many other film companies wintered on the West Coast , escaping the weak light and short days that hampered winter shooting in the East . Pickford added to her 1909 Biographs ( Sweet and Twenty , They Would Elope, and To Save Her Soul , to name
15620-493: The studios) arranged for company productions to be shown in the company's movie venues. Filmmakers relied on the studios for bookings; in return they put up with what many considered creative interference. United Artists broke from this tradition. It was solely a distribution company, offering independent film producers access to its own screens as well as the rental of temporarily unbooked cinemas owned by other companies. In 1919, Pickford established The Mary Pickford Company, that
15762-672: The successors to the penny dreadfuls , dime novels , and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century. Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines were best known for their lurid, exploitative , and sensational subject matter, even though this was but a small part of what existed in the pulps. Digest magazines and men's adventure magazines were also regarded as pulps. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered descendants of "hero pulps"; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters, such as Flash Gordon , The Shadow , Doc Savage , and The Phantom Detective . The pulps gave rise to
15904-464: The term pulp fiction in reference to run-of-the-mill, low-quality literature. Successors of pulps include paperback books, such as hardboiled detective stories and erotic fiction . Before pulp magazines, Newgate novels (1840s-1860s) fictionalized the exploits of real-life criminals. Later, British sensation novels gained peak popularity in the 1860s-1870s. Sensation novels focused on shocking stories that reflected modern-day anxieties, and were
16046-608: The trademark registrations by Zorro Productions, Inc., are therefore fraudulent. In October 2014, Cabell's lawsuit was dismissed, with the judge ruling that the state of Washington (where the case was filed) did not have jurisdiction over the matter. However the judge later reversed his decision and had the case transferred to California. In May 2017, U.S. District Judge Davila granted Zorro Productions, Inc.'s motion to dismiss Cabell's claim to cancel its federal trademark registrations. Cabell did not appeal. In June 2015, Robert W. Cabell's legal dispute with Zorro Productions, Inc. resulted in
16188-620: The transformation. Pickford's hair had become a symbol of female virtue, and when she cut it, the act made front-page news in The New York Times and other papers. Coquette was a success and won her an Academy Award for Best Actress , although this was highly controversial. The public failed to respond to her in the more sophisticated roles. Like most movie stars of the silent era, Pickford found her career fading as talkies became more popular among audiences. Her next film, The Taming of The Shrew , made with husband Douglas Fairbanks ,
16330-424: The wealthiest landowner in California and a widower; Don Carlos Pulido and his wife, Doña Catalina, Lolita's parents; and a group of noblemen ( caballeros ) who, at first, hunt Zorro but are then won over to his cause. In later stories, McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of whom know Zorro's identity. In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega. The writer
16472-462: The world". Her appeal was summed up two years later by the February 1916 issue of Photoplay as "luminous tenderness in a steel band of gutter ferocity". Only Charlie Chaplin , who slightly surpassed Pickford's popularity in 1916, had a similarly spellbinding pull with critics and the audience. Each enjoyed a level of fame far exceeding that of other actors. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Pickford
16614-471: Was a Canadian-American film actress, producer, screenwriter and film studio founder. A pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood career that spanned five decades, Pickford was one of the most popular actresses of the silent film era. Beginning her film career in 1909, by 1916 Pickford became Hollywood's first millionaire, and at the height of her career had complete creative control of her films and
16756-573: Was a charter member of the Hollywood Republican Committee. After retiring from the screen, Pickford became an alcoholic, as her father had been. Her mother Charlotte died of breast cancer in March 1928. Her siblings, Lottie and Jack, died of alcohol-related causes in 1936 and 1933. These deaths, her divorce from Fairbanks, and the end of silent films left Pickford deeply depressed. Her relationship with her adopted children, Roxanne and Ronald,
16898-564: Was a powerful symbol of American culture , kissing the American flag for cameras and auctioning one of her world-famous curls for $ 15,000. In a single speech in Chicago, she sold an estimated five million dollars' worth of bonds. She was christened the U.S. Navy's official "Little Sister"; the Army named two cannons after her and made her an honorary colonel. In 1916, Pickford and Constance Adams DeMille , wife of director Cecil B. DeMille , helped found
17040-499: Was absorbed into Universal Pictures in 1912, along with Majestic. Unhappy with their creative standards, Pickford returned to work with Griffith in 1912. Some of her best performances were in his films, such as Friends , The Mender of Nets , Just Like a Woman , and The Female of the Species . That year, Pickford also introduced Dorothy and Lillian Gish —whom she had befriended as new neighbors from Ohio —to Griffith, and each became
17182-467: Was also a success, and in 1923, Rosita grossed over $ 1 million as well. During this period, she also made Little Annie Rooney (1925), another film in which Pickford played a child, Sparrows (1926), which blended the Dickensian with newly minted German expressionist style, and My Best Girl (1927), a romantic comedy featuring her future husband Charles "Buddy" Rogers . The arrival of sound
17324-500: Was also one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. She was awarded the second Academy Award for Best Actress for her first sound film role in Coquette (1929) and received an Academy Honorary Award in 1976 in consideration of her contributions to American cinema. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Pickford as the 24th-greatest female star of Classical Hollywood Cinema . Mary Pickford
17466-462: Was at the height of his popularity thanks to the Disney series. In The Curse of Capistrano , Señor Zorro became an outlaw in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians, to aid the oppressed" and is dubbed the "Curse of Capistrano". The novel features Don Diego Vega and Zorro extensively, but the fact that they are the same person is not revealed to
17608-404: Was based more on the 1919 novel Don Q's Love Story by the mother–son duo Kate Prichard and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard than on The Further Adventures . Thus, McCulley received no credit for the film. At first, the production of new Zorro stories proceeded irregularly: the third novel, Zorro Rides Again (not to be confused with the 1937 theatrical serial), was published in 1931, nine years after
17750-428: Was believed to be the most famous woman in the world, or, as a silent-film journalist described her, "the best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history". Pickford starred in 52 features throughout her career. On June 24, 1916, Pickford signed a new contract with Zukor that granted her full authority over production of
17892-412: Was billed as "Lottie Pickford" (born 1893) and John Charles Jr. was billed as "Jack Pickford" (born 1896). To please her husband's relatives, Pickford's mother baptized her children as Methodists, the religion of their father. John Charles Sr. was an alcoholic. He died on February 11, 1898, from a fatal blood clot caused by a workplace accident when he was a purser with Niagara Steamship. When Gladys
18034-466: Was born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892, at 211 University Avenue , Toronto , Ontario, now the location of the Hospital for Sick Children . Her father, John Charles Smith, was the son of English Methodist immigrants, and worked a variety of odd jobs. Her mother, Charlotte Hennessey , was of Irish Catholic descent and worked for a time as a seamstress. She had two younger siblings, both actors. Charlotte
18176-434: Was devoted exclusively to producing films distributed by United Artists. With the film Pollyanna being Mary's first film distributed by The United Artists. Pickford and Fairbanks produced and shot their films after 1920 at the jointly owned Pickford-Fairbanks studio on Santa Monica Boulevard . The producers who signed with UA were true independents, producing, creating and controlling their work to an unprecedented degree. As
18318-578: Was four years old, her household was under infectious quarantine as a public health measure. Their devoutly Catholic maternal grandmother (Catherine Faeley Hennessey) asked a visiting Roman Catholic priest to baptize the children. Pickford was at this time baptized as Gladys Marie Smith. After being widowed in 1898, Charlotte Smith began taking in boarders, one of whom was a Mr. Murphy, the theatrical stage manager for Cummings Stock Company, who soon suggested that Gladys, then age seven, and Lottie, then age six, be given two small theatrical roles—Gladys portrayed
18460-465: Was her undoing. Pickford underestimated the value of adding sound to movies, claiming that "adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo ". She played a reckless socialite in Coquette (1929), her first talkie , a role for which her famous ringlets were cut into a 1920s' bob . Pickford had already cut her hair in the wake of her mother's death in 1928. Fans were shocked at
18602-470: Was immediately taken with Pickford. She quickly grasped that movie acting was simpler than the stylized stage acting of the day. Most Biograph actors earned $ 5 a day but, after Pickford's single day in the studio, Griffith agreed to pay her $ 10 a day against a guarantee of $ 40 a week. Pickford, like all actors at Biograph, played both leading roles and bit parts, including mothers, ingénues , charwomen , spitfires, slaves, Native Americans, spurned women, and
18744-414: Was inspired by the real-life Hungarian Baron László Nopcsa (1794–1884), who, according to the local legends, had a similar type of alterego. The copyright and trademark status of the Zorro character and stories have been disputed. At least five works are in the public domain in the United States because at least 95 years have passed after their first release: the 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano ,
18886-469: Was later known as Famous Players–Lasky and then Paramount Pictures , one of the first American feature film companies. Pickford left the stage to join Zukor's roster of stars. Zukor believed film's potential lay in recording theatrical players in replicas of their most famous stage roles and productions. Zukor first filmed Pickford in a silent version of A Good Little Devil . The film, produced in 1913, showed
19028-406: Was not well received at the box office. Established Hollywood actors were panicked by the impending arrival of the talkies. On March 29, 1928, The Dodge Brothers Hour was broadcast from Pickford's bungalow, featuring Fairbanks, Chaplin, Norma Talmadge , Gloria Swanson , John Barrymore , D. W. Griffith, and Dolores del Río , among others. They spoke on the radio show to prove that they could meet
19170-573: Was one of the most recognizable women in the world. Due to her popularity, unprecedented international fame, and success as an actress and businesswoman, she was known as the "Queen of the Movies". She was a significant figure in the development of film acting and is credited with having defined the ingénue type in cinema, a persona that also earned her the nickname " America's Sweetheart ". In 1919, she co-founded United Artists alongside Charlie Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks , and D. W. Griffith , and
19312-565: Was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film marked the first time Pickford's name was featured above the title on movie marquees. Tess of the Storm Country was released five weeks later. Biographer Kevin Brownlow observed that the film "sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not
19454-851: Was that they paid upon acceptance for material instead of on publication. Since a story might be accepted months or even years before publication, to a working writer this was a crucial difference in cash flow . Some pulp editors became known for cultivating good fiction and interesting features in their magazines. Preeminent pulp magazine editors included Arthur Sullivant Hoffman ( Adventure ), Robert H. Davis ( All-Story Weekly ), Harry E. Maule ( Short Stories ), Donald Kennicott ( Blue Book ), Joseph Shaw ( Black Mask ), Farnsworth Wright ( Weird Tales , Oriental Stories ), John W. Campbell ( Astounding Science Fiction , Unknown ) and Daisy Bacon ( Love Story Magazine , Detective Story Magazine ). Well-known authors who wrote for pulps include: Sinclair Lewis , first American winner of
19596-463: Was the languid Don Diego again. Is it not a peculiar thing?" This part of the backstory was changed in the 1920 film The Mark of Zorro . Diego recently returned from Spain at the movie's start. Zorro later tells Lolita that he learned swordsmanship in Spain. The 1925 sequel Don Q, Son of Zorro expands on this concept by saying that: "Though the home of the De Vegas has long been on California soil,
19738-535: Was the languid Don Diego you all knew, and the other half was the Curse of Capistrano I hoped one day to be. And then the time came, and my work began." "It is a peculiar thing to explain, señores . The moment I donned cloak and mask, the Don Diego part of me fell away. My body straightened, new blood seemed to course through my veins, my voice grew strong and firm, fire came to me! And the moment I removed cloak and mask I
19880-408: Was too self-absorbed to provide real maternal love. In 2003, Ronnie recalled that "Things didn't work out that much, you know. But I'll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman". Pickford supported Thomas Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election , Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election and Ronald Reagan in his race for governor in 1966 . She
20022-473: Was turbulent at best. Pickford withdrew and gradually became a recluse, remaining almost entirely at Pickfair and allowing visits only from Lillian Gish , her stepson Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , and a few select others. In 1955, she published her memoirs, Sunshine and Shadows . She had previously published Why Not Try God in 1934, an essay on spirituality and personal growth, My Rendezvous with Life (1935), an essay on death and her belief in an afterlife and also
20164-404: Was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead, and Diego was publicly exposed as Zorro. But in the sequel, the villain was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret. Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's exploits. Many continuations feature a younger character taking up the mantle of Zorro. McCulley's stories are set during
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